Homeland creators revealed spoilers about the show's forthcoming season,
including when Brody, played by Damian Lewis, will appear.

The cast and executive producers of Homeland have revealed clues about the show's third season, including that its main star, former hostage and double agent Nicholas Brody, who is played by Damian Lewis, will not appear in the first two episodes.

Lewis, who has won an Emmy for his performance in the role and has been nominated for another this year, explained Brody's whereabouts after his disappearance at the end of season two when he was framed for the bombing of CIA headquarters by Islamic terrorists. Lewis said: "He’s disappeared into a tunnel and exfiltration system that Carrie has effected." The new season begins 200 days after the last, when Brody does reappear, however, he'll be on the run – Lewis said he "is the most-wanted criminal in the world at this point".

Co-producer Alex Gansa said that although they could confirm Brody's absence for two episodes, it would be "a betrayal" to the rest of the series to disclose when he would re-appear. However, teasers for future episodes show Brody with a shaved head and in a foreign country – believed to be Venezuela.

The British actor said his absence was "completely in line" with Homeland's story, adding that the production team and the fictional CIA "have been trying to kill [Brody] since the end of episode one when [he] had a stay of execution". Homeland's writers had been intending to kill off Brody at end of series one in a suicide bomb plot to assassinate the US President, but the character pulled out at the last moment.

The Homeland team also gave other minor spoilers. Brody's family: his wife Jess, played by Morena Baccarin, his son Chris, played by Jackson Pace and daughter Dana, played by Morgan Saylor, will be heavily involved with the third series.

Claire Danes will return as Carrie Mathison, the CIA intelligence officer who is in love with Brody and enabled his escape in the season two finale. However, things will take a darker turn for Mathison, who is off her medication and looks to be in isolation for "a good chunk of the season" according to Danes, who adds: "it's pretty bleak in the beginning".

The first trailer for Homeland season 3 has also been released, although it doesn't give much away. You can watch it below:

Homeland will air on September 29, a UK release date is expected later in the Autumn.